1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shoelace tightening device, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a shoelace tightening device which enables a shoelace to be simply and easily tightened and loosened when putting on and taking off one""s shoes, respectively, thereby enhancing convenience of a wearer of shoes and improving the value of shoes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, most sports shoes such as basketball shoes, which are commercially available, possess a feature in that they are manufactured to have an elongated neck portion which defines a foot insertion opening. These sports shoes having elongated neck portions provide advantages in that they effectively protect ankles of a wearer of the sports shoes while ameliorating external appearance of themselves. However, because the sports shoes cannot be put on and taken off in a convenient manner as in dress shoes, when putting on and taking off the sports shoes, inconvenience is caused in that the wearer has to tie and untie shoelaces every time.
Accordingly, in most cases, if sports shoes having elongated neck portions are to be worn, as a usual attempt to resolve even to a slight extent the inconvenience caused when putting on and taking off the sports shoes, each shoelace is not threaded through some of two approximately parallel rows of eyelets, which are proximate to the top of the shoe, and/or each of both ends of the shoelace is independently knotted by being tied several times after being threaded through the eyelets.
However, in the case that, as described above, sports shoes are worn in a state wherein each of both ends of the shoelace is independently knotted by being tied several times after being threaded through the eyelets, while it is easy for the wearer to put on and take off the sports shoes, the sports shoes as a whole have an untidy appearance, and, when participating in athletic activities involving running and jumping which translate to high impact force on the foot, the sports shoes are likely to come off from the feet of the wearer, due to the fact that tightening force of the shoelaces is insufficient.
To cope with these problems, there are disclosed sports shoes with Velcro brand hook and loop fasteners, in the art. These sports shoes have a strap with the Velcro brand hook and loop fastener on one end and the complementary Velcro brand hook and loop fastener on the other end. One end of the strap is attached to one side of the shoe, and the other end of the strap runs through an opening defined on the opposite side of the shoe and then is folded back to be secured to the one end of the strap. If fit properly, fasteners of this type provide a firm fit, but tend to look bulky and unkempt. Additionally, in the case of the sports shoes using the Velcro brand hook and loop fasteners, while an upper portion of an instep of the shoe is sufficiently tightened, a lower portion of the instep of the shoe is relatively loosened. Therefore, wearing comfortableness of the shoe is deteriorated, and the sports shoes cannot be worn by a professional athlete.
As a result, the aforementioned shoes of the conventional art commonly suffer from defects in that convenience of a wearer of shoes is degraded and the value of shoes is lessened.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in an effort to solve the problems occurring in the related art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a shoelace tightening device which enables a shoelace to be simply and easily tightened and loosened when putting on and taking off one""s shoes, respectively, thereby enhancing convenience of a wearer of shoes and improving the value of shoes.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a shoelace tightening device, by which a shoelace is conveniently knotted in such a manner that tightening force of the shoelace is consistently maintained and thereby the shoelace is not spontaneously untied while a shoe is worn on the foot of a wearer of shoes.
In order to achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a shoelace tightening device, comprising: a plate member attached to the tongue of a shoe; a longitudinal wall section and a transverse wall section disposed on an upper surface of the plate member such that they define a T-shaped configuration when viewed from the top; a main through hole and an auxiliary through hole formed in the longitudinal wall section for allowing both ends of a shoelace to be passed therethrough; a first opened groove and a second opened groove formed in the transverse wall section such that they have a contour which is opened at both axial ends and at an upper portion and are spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance; and a first winding element and a second winding element arranged at places on the plate member where they are separated respectively from the first opened groove and the second opened groove by a preset distance, while they are spaced apart from each other by the predetermined distance, for securing therearound portions of the shoelace which are inserted through the first opened groove and the second opened groove, respectively, after passing through the main through hole of the longitudinal wall section.